Thursday, November 4, 2010

Lolo B Joins Yoga Sessions


Last week I got a message in facebook from my dear ate Sharon Rafols inviting me to join yoga sessions because her yoga teacher from India is coming to Dumaguete to have sessions with some Silliman Medical School students and with the staff of Silliman Justice and Peace Center. I have never really been interested in yoga but this time I thought of giving it a try.

Yesterday I announced the details to all the members of YATTA because Nanay Dessa encouraged us to join during our General Assembly in Valencia last Sunday. Well, only one member, Nikki, replied and said he was interested. I was busy yesterday so I really thought I couldn't join but since Nikki wanted to go and ate Sharon was expecting us, I was forced to stop working and join the session. It was done at Ate Sharon's house in Silliman heights which is relatively far from the city. Fortunately, Nikki was able to borrow his brother's motorcycle.

When we arrived in ate Shaoi's place I was surprised that there were only three of them besides the yoga teacher and so I thought it was good that we came. We were introduced to Dada Smiht, the yoga teacher who holds the second highest position in the Ananda Marga group all over Asia. They were actually waiting for us, and so we immediately started the session.

We began with a warm-up because he said it is important to prepare the body for the exercises. He also said that we must not join the session with a full stomach because some exercises would make us feel like vomiting. It is also advised to take a bath before the session and not to touch water or eat right after the session. We should wait for at least 15 minutes until the body goes back to it's normal state.

After the warm-up we began with the exercises, and I was really surprised how he was able to execute them at his age. Some of us were not even able to execute them properly. He asked me to guess how old he is and I was able to guess it right, but honestly, without his long white beard he would look much younger based on his smooth young looking skin.

After all the exercises I didn't feel tired and he said that's the beauty of yoga. You are exercising but you won't get exhausted. He also taught us about the importance of meditation and how it improves your being - your physical, spiritual, and mental health. He explained that when you meditate you become a positive thinker, and positive thoughts lead to a positive lifestyle. When you are on the positive side you live a happy life and you begin to feel content about the things that you have.

I really learned a lot from Dada Smiht. It turned out that I was the one who asked a lot of questions. I am now very interested in this and sure I'm coming back tonight for another session. Ohm Shanti!